


Something To Hold On To

by pinkevilbob



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Platonic Bed Sharing, Shipping If You Squint, Stuffed Toys, embrace what you love even if it's childish, growing up and being 'mature' is a fake concept and should be ignored
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 04:28:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18652903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkevilbob/pseuds/pinkevilbob
Summary: Jester and Caleb end up having to share the room. Which wouldn't be a problem is Jester didn't have a plus one with her.





	Something To Hold On To

**Author's Note:**

> So I saw some stuff going around about Jester being immature and liking childish things and stuff makes her basically just a kid, and, oh dang, are those fighting words for me. I wrote this to capture my feelings on the subject. I don't know if I expressed what I wanted to, but I liked how this came out.

Jester had been planning this trip for months. It was going to be the trip of a lifetime. She and her friends were going to a music festival and it was going to be their first vacation together as friends and it was going to be perfect. The only thing she hadn't planned out to a T was the sleeping arrangements at the hotel.

The original plan was that Jester and Beau would share one room, Nott and Caleb would share another, and the final room would be Cad's and Fjord's. But then Nott got back together with her husband and Yasha was able to join them after all, so they got an extra room for Nott and her husband and Beau begged Jester to let her stay the night with Yasha which was fine with Jester(she thought that Yasha and Beau would make a sweet couple). But that left her in a hotel room with Caleb. Not that she minded Caleb, he could be very sweet and when he remembered to shave and shower wasn’t too bad. The only thing was he didn't know her secret.

It wasn't a big or bad secret like she killed people or something, but she didn't want him judging her for it either. The thing was that Jester couldn't sleep without her plush unicorn hamster, Hammy. Beau already knew about Hammy and only gave Jester little bit of a hard time about him, but never complained about having to share a bed with him. But Caleb was a guy, super serious and mature, and probably didn't want to deal with how immature Jester was with her silly stuffed animal.

Jester tried practicing sleeping without Hammy before the trip, but it was no use. Without Hammy, Jester couldn't sleep and would just spend the night worrying about silly things that she had no control over like what if her friends actually hated her or what if her mom got sick or stuff like that. So, Hammy sat in her backpack waiting for bedtime.

When they checked into their room for the evening, Jester nervously set her bag down on the bed. "So, here we are. Our room for the night." It wasn’t a very big room just a bed and a couple of chairs and a table, but the bed was big enough for two people. She just didn’t know if it was big enough for two people and a plush unicorn hamster.

“There’s only one bed,” Caleb pointed out.

“Well, yeah, when we made reservations we only needed one bed in each room and with the festival tomorrow the hotel’s completely booked so we couldn’t change rooms. I hope that’s okay,” Jester said. It would’ve been easier if they could each have their own room, but it was too late to get another room and she knew that Caleb couldn’t afford it.

Caleb nodded, but he was frowning. “I can just take a chair. If you don’t want to share the bed, I mean. I understand.”

“What?! No, it’s fine,” Jester said shaking her head.

"Jester, you don't have to lie to me," Caleb said. "I can tell that you're nervous, and I don't want you to do anything that you don't want to."

Jester stared at him in surprise. She didn't realize that she was being so obvious. "No, it's not that at all. It's just. Look, I'm going to show you something and it's kind of embarrassing, so you have to promise not to laugh or make fun of me. Promise?"

"Ja, of course I promise. I would never laugh at you," Caleb said sincerely.

"Ok." With a deep breath, Jester opened up her bag and pulled out her plush. "This is Hammy. I sleep with him every night."

Caleb nodded and kept looking at Jester. "Ja, okay. Now what's the thing that I'm not supposed to laugh at?"

"Hammy. It's weird, you know, an adult who needs a stuffed animal," Jester said.

"There are weirder things though," Caleb said.

Jester stared at Caleb trying to tell if he was just waiting to make fun of her or tell her how childish she was, but he seemed sincere. "You really don't mind having him in the bed?"

Caleb shook his head. "Not at all. If he makes you more comfortable, I don't mind. I actually had a stuffed cat when I was younger. Frumpkin.” He smiled at the memory. “But I had to get rid of him when I went to Soltryce Academy." And the familiar sadness swept over his face like it always did when he mentioned his old school. Jester didn't know much about Soltryce, but from what she could tell, it was was not a good place at all.

"I'm sorry," Jester said.

Caleb shrugged it off. "It is fine. I needed to grow up anyways. But you don't, Jester," Caleb quickly added. "You keep Hammy as long as you need to and longer if you want. That's part of what I like about you."

"That I sleep with a stuffed animal?"

"Nein. I mean that you love what you love and that you don't let others stop you. I think that's very admirable," Caleb said.

Jester smiled at him. "Thank you." It was the nicest thing anyone had ever said about Hammy. "You want to know something?"

"What?"

"Hammy likes you very much," Jester said.

Caleb smiled softly. "I'm honored to have his seal of approval."

* * *

 

Jester had a good night sleep with Hammy and Caleb(though Caleb nearly fell off the bed since he insisted in keeping a distance from Jester so he wouldn't make her uncomfortable). And the music festival itself was amazing. They got to see the Meatman perform live, and Jester was at the very front and he even touched her hand. She spent nearly the whole car ride back to the hotel talking about it, but she paid enough attention to the road to stop herself. "Wait! I need to go to the store!"

"The store?" Beau asked. "Why do you need to go to the store?"

"There's something super important that I need to get and I only realized it last night and it was too late to get it, so I need to get it now," Jester said.

"Fine, fine," Beau said as they pulled into the parking lot.

It was one of those grocery stores that was also a department store. "I'll only be a minute!" Jester called out as she got out of the car and closed the door before anyone could follow her in. This was a secret mission. She was able to find what she needed quickly and came back to the others with her purchase hidden in a bag. Beau tried to peer into it, but Jester kept it closed tightly.

Jester could hardly hide her excitement when she got back to the hotel room with Caleb. She handed the bag to Caleb.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Do I even want to know what's in here?" he asked.

"Go on, open it!" Jester could hardly contain her excitement.

Caleb looked in the bag. "Is this for me?"

Jester nodded. "Yeah! I mean, if you like it that is. If you don't, you don't have to keep it."

Caleb pulled a plush cat from the bag. It was a bengal cat since that was the best one Jester could find at the store. He examined the cat carefully, running his hands over it, and looking at it from every angle. A serious expression stayed firmly on his face.

"I'm sorry. It's just that when you were talking about your old stuffed cat, it sounded like you missed him, so I thought maybe you'd like a new one," Jester said. "But you don't have to keep it. It was a silly thought."

Caleb abruptly gave the cat a tight hug. "Frumpkin. His name's Frumpkin." He looked up from the plush with a the biggest smile Jester had ever seen on Caleb. It wasn't a big smile, not really, and it was a bit shy, but for Caleb, it was enormous. "Thank you."

Jester beamed back at him. "You're welcome."

It turned out that the bed was big enough that night for two people, a unicorn hamster, and a cat.

**Author's Note:**

> So first thing I love stuffed animals. I collect them, sleep with them, and even make them. So of course I needed to give my favorite characters some. It's shame that we claim that plushes are just for kids. Second, I think Frumpkin works as a stuffed animal and have no regrets making him one. Third, I'd like to thank the widojest discord for helping me come up with this idea and write this fic.
> 
> I hope you guys liked the fic!


End file.
